Song of Tides

[Glimmeringpearl]

Her fingertips ran over his forehead, curiously. He seemed to enjoy this slumber. "Mermaids have dreams only of when we find our mate and bare an egg. That is where we find happiness... And yet the siren tells me that there is more than that. Is there more than looks to you? What else is there?" She pulled away from him, examining herself with his head in her lap. She then returned to gaze upon him again. "And yet, there is much more than looks to you... What does that say of you? Are you the prime pick among your kind based on something other than beauty? And to you, what is beauty?" She was deeply perplexed as she mused to herself. Yet he seemed so peaceful. She only knew one expression to tell someone that you accept them and that was to embrace them.

Her hands slipped onto his back and pulled him closely, hugging him firmly. "It's okay, because I like you anyways." She spoke as her set her chin on his shoulder, staring at the swaying sea-foam.

[GoblinFae]

Ocarern came back into consciousness slowly. 'What is all over me? Why do I feel so warm?' Opening his eyes he was shocked to find a half-naked female body pressed up against his own. "Eeee!" he squealed, rolling himself off the mermaid's lap and back into the water. The water splashed and sloshed about as he frantically back-pedaled away from her.

"No touchy!" he screamed holding his hands out in front of him. He held up one finger eyeing the mermaid warily. "No touch." Ocarern did not dare to take his gaze off the woman for long, as he looked about for a way out of the water. He kept glancing back at her muttering "no touchy."

'Humans aren't the only ones? What is it with women and hugging? Too much touchy! Why? Why? Why! Always touching!'

[Glimmeringpearl]

She looked confused at him. What is why these humans and sirens and their lack of touch? Why did they want to be so distance?? It was just a hug. She sighed, she guessed he wasn't normal. But she already said she liked him anyways. She rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "You creatures are all so strange. Why do you want to be so apart from everyone? Don't you hug and kiss and touch other... 'elfs'??"

l[ Ocarern's New Groove. ]l

[GoblinFae]

"Hug? Kiss?" Ocarern shuddered at such human notions. There once was a time where he loved such familiar indulgences but death had a fond way of stealing that from him. Every time he loved, someone got hurt or died.

He shook his head as a blank mask hid his heartache. "I do not know any other elves. My family is dead. I am on my own." He shrugged again. "What would you have me do? I do not know you Miss. I do not even know your name or you mine." Ocarern waded out of the water and back onto a rock, still casting wary looks at the mermaid. "Touch is painful enough for me. Why would I allow some stranger inflict more on me?" He tousled his hair, shaking the water droplets everywhere as he tried to get dry.

[Glimmeringpearl]

She gasped at the part that his parents were dead and also that it was painful for him. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know. That's how mermaids tell one another 'I like you.'" She said, pointing between him and her both. She sighed, what a troubled conversation this is. She slid her body down on her belly to the beach, her tail curving upward, the sash-like pectoral fins dripping water on her back. It was getting dark quickly. "Is that why you look so unhappy? Because it hurts to be happy??"

[GoblinFae]

He looked over at her curiously. "That can't be very comfortable," he blurted out, nodding towards her current position. Crimson flooded his face and ears as he realized what he said. "Doh!" Ocarern slammed his hands into his face. 'Stupid! Why do you bother opening your mouth anyway? Is it just to change feet?'

Ocarern ran his hand through his hair again, flicking water out towards the mermaid. "I'm not unhappy! I'm moonshadow," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. To him that was answer enough. The young elf never understood that others did not few things the same way he did. 'She is...odd,' he concluded, tilting his head.

[Glimmeringpearl]

She smiled, beaming at him with her big bluish-green eyes. "Actually, this is really comfortable for me. Sitting on my tail makes it go numb." She spoke distinctly and clearly when she said that. She had no idea what he meant though. This is comfortable for her. She smiled at with while he blushed too, because she didn't understand mostly. The smile faded when he said that funny word. "Moon.... Shadow... What is that?"

[GoblinFae]

'Did she say hugging is affection? That she likes me? How can she? She doesn't even know me. We just met. Must be a human thing.' He paused looking her over critically. 'Or rather a half-human and above thing.'

Ocarern rolled his eyes at the thought before continuing. "Moonshadow? Well, it's me. And you're," he paused, blinking. "You're also moonshadow but also not. You're..." A color and emotion he could not readily guess at danced before his eyes, irritating and frustrating him. "I don't really know what it is."

'She is giving me such a headache.' Looking away from the mermaid, Ocarern seemed to notice the setting sun for the first time. 'Should head ho-. I mean I should find somewhere to stay. Home doesn't exist anymore, remember.' He let out a soft sigh. "Are you just going to stay here all night? Don't you have some" he swallowed, chocking out the next word, "home to go to?"

[Glimmeringpearl]

Of course, when the mermaid said 'like' she meant in a platonic way. Unlike the word for "love" for which were was no word for in the world of mermaids. She didn't understand the word, "moonshadow." Rather, what either of those words meant were not among the vocabulary of the sea. However, the notion was quickly dismissed after hearing the word home. Her heart plummeted straight to her stomach, laying there like a block of lead. She wanted to cry again but this was a stronger emotion. Not one she could describe with tears. "No." She said plainly, dismissively. As if the word had no meaning to her, nor value. She was an exile. There was no home for her but this shore now.

[GoblinFae]

Ocarern both saw and heard her blatant dismissal. 'None of my business then.' He shrugged to himself, before looking out to the sun diving into the sea. "It's getting late. I should be heading back now. It was a pleasure to meet you Lady mermaid," he told her bowing. "May your song always be heard on the wind," he said bidding her farewell and beginning to walk away.

[Glimmeringpearl]

She paused, musing over the thought. "Glimmer." She called out to him, shifting on her stomach a little. "My name is Glimmer."

[GoblinFae]

He froze in his steps, his back still to the mermaid. "Ocarern," he called back to her. "Goodbye Lady Glimmer." The elf continued onward, slowly walking back the way he came. 'What an odd day indeed.'

[Glimmeringpearl]

l[ Thanks, that was a lot of fun! ]l

[GoblinFae]

(My pleasure. Feel free to play again anytime.)